2023-04-29 02:13:00
“Progress has been made. But a lot remains to be done”, this is how a recent study assessed the results of social dialogue one year after its relaunch in April 2022. Indeed, many shortcomings are highlighted by this study published by the Center for Public Dialogue of modern studies (CDPEM) and intended to analyze the results of the first social year (2022-2023).
Misfires
Among these shortcomings marring government action in the implementation of the results of the April 30, 2022 agreement, the study considers that the positive consensus that occurred during the signing “did not last long”, because, on the one hand, of the government’s passivity in implementing some of the agreed obligations, and on the other hand, of the non-commitment of the parties to put in place the requirements related to the establishment of social peace and the institutionalization of social dialogue at the territorial level.
In this regard, the said study has identified a number of shortcomings such as the delay in the publication of the annual report on the social climate scheduled for last March as well as the non-restructuring of the regional committee for social dialogue and the provincial committee, which are responsible for studying the state of the business climate and the state of the social climate at regional and provincial level.
The study noted that the regional social dialogue commissions did not hold their periodic meetings during the social year, and that the labor legislation commission provided for by the National Pact for the institutionalization of social dialogue, responsible to follow the examination of the legislation, has not been activated.
The study also highlighted the non-creation of the National Observatory of Social Dialogue as a space for consolidating the tripartite. Ditto for the Academy of training in the field of employment and the social climate and the institutions that work on the integration and convergence of the mechanisms of social dialogue.
The study also recorded the non-activation of a set of provisions related to the implementation of the social agreement of April 30, 2022, at the level of the private sector, which is experiencing structural problems that the parties have agreed to resolve. quickly and radically.
Disengagement
In addition, the CDPEM notes that the government has made no offer regarding the implementation of the commitments related to the facilitation of women’s work, in particular the commitment to reduce the cost of wages for domestic workers and their employers. The Executive has also been unable to create 100 crèches per year for the benefit of company employees, by allocating a subsidy to build, prepare and equip each crèche. Also, it has not been able, with the social and economic partners, to meet the challenge of establishing at least 100 collective agreements per year, since the balance sheet does not exceed 16 agreements during this social year.
Regarding the public sector, the said report observes that the government has not respected several commitments made during the 2022-2023 social year. This is the case of the implementation of a general wage increase since the government has not managed to find a compromise with the social partners on the operationalization of this commitment in September 2022.
This is also the case of the revision of the income tax system which has not been activated. The said document also cites the non-creation of a new promotion scale within the public service.
The government is also criticized for being very slow in establishing dialogue and in operationalizing agreements within public establishments and enterprises; failure to adopt new legislative and regulatory measures enabling the injured official to deal with the impact of work-related illnesses and accidents and failure to revise the legislative provisions relating to medium and long-term sick leave.
The authors of the said study underline the non-programming of sectoral dialogues within the public service except in the sectors of health, education and finance; the non-opening of discussions aimed at adopting the ILO agreements; the non-promulgation of the regulatory law relating to the conditions for practicing the right to strike; the non-opening of discussions concerning the bill relating to trade unions, professional electoral laws and the revision of the Labor Code.
General fed up
These criticisms are shared by several trade unionists, many of whom think that the so-called achievements obtained remain insufficient and that much remains to be done, particularly in a context of economic and social gloom. Indeed, there are many who believe that the long-awaited increase in wages, set at 150 or 160 dirhams per month by the Executive, remains fundamentally insignificant if one measures the frightening abyss created in the household budget by the exponential inflation particularly affecting the prices of basic necessities. Furthermore, they emphasize that the increase in wages is not the appropriate measure for lack of rigorous control of the Labor Code. Especially in this difficult social situation.
For their part, some economists fear, on the other hand, to drag the country into an inflationary spiral, also called “price-wage loop” or “Phillips curve”. This phenomenon, as Coline Vazquez explains, occurs when rising wages fuel rising prices. “More concretely, companies increase the remuneration of their employees, which increases their production costs. An additional charge that they are then forced to pass on to their selling prices so as not to reduce their margins too much. Prices are therefore on the rise again and reduce the gain in purchasing power obtained by employees thanks to the increase in wages”.
It should also be noted that certain constraints still weigh on social dialogue, this is particularly the case with the rate of income tax (IR), which can reach up to 38%, and that of allowances for managers within the different services. The right to strike also poses a problem, as does the sectoral social dialogue file, which is lagging behind at the level of certain ministries. Indeed, and with the exception of the Ministries of Health and Education, sector dialogue is lagging behind in many ministries.
Hassan Bentaleb